Partial flight resumptions restore some gold flows from key hub Dubai

Deliveries of physical gold to and from Dubai — a ‌major hub supplying Switzerland, Hong Kong and India — have been affected since ‌the start of the U.S.–Israeli ‌war ⁠on Iran on February 28, which ⁠triggered widespread passenger flight cancellations across West Asia.

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The traffic remains constrained, but some of ​the deliveries have restarted, ‌one of the sources said. He declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to ‌media.

Gold travels by plane due ​to security and insurance issues owing to its high value-to-weight ratio. ⁠Tracking data on FlightRadar24 showed Dubai flights at 37% of the usual ‌traffic as of Thursday (March 12).

Reduced flight traffic is increasing insurance and ground transportation costs for bullion deliveries, another source said.

Easing some of the disruption for India, a key bullion consumer, gold is trading ‌at a discount to London prices, and traders ​expect India’s demand to remain subdued for the next two weeks.

“Only ⁠limited flights [from Dubai] have resumed so ⁠far, which is helping bring in some bullion, but demand in ‌India is still weak,” said a Mumbai-based dealer with a private bank.